


Kiss of Life

by hibiren



Series: Jay's Gladnis Collection [12]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, Daemons, Electrocution, Emotional, Feels, Healing, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Matter of Life and Death, Near Death, Rescue, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 21:12:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19048510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hibiren/pseuds/hibiren
Summary: While fighting, Ignis is struck by lightning magic from a daemon and falls convulsing to the ground. Gladio, panicking and soon realizing he's out of potions and phoenix down, resuscitates Ignis in the only other way he knows how and prays that it is enough.





	Kiss of Life

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure where this idea came from, but enjoy if you like some injury-related feels!

Somewhere within that bright purple burst of daemonic electricity, Ignis’ voice cried out in an agonized warble of shock. It was too late to escape. An instant later, the magic dissipated and left the tactician convulsing, knees buckling. He collapsed against the ground and curled into himself, unable to stop the shaky cries that poured free as he gripped his chest.

_“Ignis!!”_

Panicking and swearing, Gladio cut down everything in his path to get to Ignis - leaving the other two to cover him while he dragged his fallen comrade to safety behind the closest cover he could get to. He was lucky that the lightning magic didn’t carry a secondary electrocution. At that point, however, he was too focused on Ignis to think such a thing.

“Oh, no. No, no, no - Ignis? Shit...! Iggy, stay with me. Please,” Gladio pleaded, voice hoarse from shouting orders at Noctis and Prompto. His own faintly trembling hands gently laid Ignis out as flat as he could, and felt his heart sink as Ignis still twitched, skin crackling with freshly-inflicted open daemon wounds that oozed thick with fresh blood.

Ignis was barely coherent, unable to respond to any of Gladio’s questions or proddings, only laying there as his body shuddered intermittently. There was so much blood covering both of them, but Gladio tried his best to push that aside and focus on doing what he could to heal Ignis.

Another swear, louder, left Gladio’s lips when he realized they were out of potions. Everything. None of the others had phoenix down either - Gladio shouted over to Noctis and Prompto as soon as he realized they were out, but they both shook their heads; they were on their own.

Fuck.

_Fuck._

Of all times, why now? Why like this?

Those and a hundred other questions raced through Gladio’s mind as he fought to find a way to ease his pain. He eventually settled on gently running a hand through Ignis’ singed hair, glad that most of it stayed where it was. In minute response, Ignis’ eyelids fluttered. Their gazes connected for a single infinite second before Ignis coughed harshly, clutched clawing at his chest, and let out a near-silent whisper,

_“Forgive me.”_

Gladio frowned when Ignis’ grip went slack, his hand slipping down to rest against the dirt. Bloodied palms pressed frantically to Ignis’ burned wrist, then his neck, alarmed when he finally felt a pulse. It was there, barely, a faint rhythm - Ignis was far more wounded than Gladio thought.

Slowly, carefully, Gladio lowered his head to Ignis’ chest and listened. As seconds passed, his heartbeat became more unsteady, dangerously so. The tactician’s lungs seemed to only be letting in small, shallow breaths… Noctis and Prompto were still trying to finish off the swarm of Thunder Bombs, leaving Gladio with only one choice.

Cradling the back of Ignis’ head in one hand, he helped lean his head back just slightly, to see if that helped him breathe any easier. Ear again pressed to Ignis’ scorched shirt, when he was met with uncomfortable silence he tried not to let the panic in his own chest sink in as he laid his hands on Ignis where his head had just been. One hand atop the other, he did his best to keep a steady rhythm as he compressed.

“Come on, Ignis, don’t do this to me. Come back… come back to me, dammit…”

The counting cadence in his head just felt numb, like some kind of recitation, a jumble of numbers that somehow made sense. He found it nearly impossible to tear his hands away, hoping that what came next would be enough to help ease Ignis back to consciousness.

Struggling to remind himself to stay gentle but firm with his touch, he pinched Ignis’ nose shut with one hand, bracing Ignis’ chin with the other so he could lean down and try to get his lungs the oxygen they needed. He hoped, in a way, that his silent pleas for Ignis to respond would make it through, in the way his own breath filled the tactician’s struggling lungs.

“You’re… you’re gonna make it, Iggy, please… don’t give up. C’mon. I know you’re in there somewhere,” Gladio whispered, thankful to notice that behind him, the sounds of fighting were slowly dying down.

Again he repeated his cycle of compressions, counting wearily, but never once letting inconsistency take over. When he reached down to tilt Ignis’ chin again, relief flooded through him when he heard the slight wheeze, a small inhale and exhale, and then another…

“Ignis?”

A ragged whisper answered, “what… happened?”

“Don’t push yourself by talking,” Gladio scolded, but halfheartedly - he was just relieved that he’d been able to resuscitate him without the use of potions or healing items… but he knew that as soon as it was safe, they would immediately be heading back as quickly as they could to Lestallum to find Ignis a bed, and a doctor to make sure his other wounds could be taken care of while they re-established their item supply. Never again, Gladio swore, would he let this happen. “You were caught in a Thunder Bomb’s blast, and… you…”

He trailed off, but eventually found the end of his thought: “You’re gonna be okay.”

Gladio hadn’t even noticed Noctis and Prompto both standing worriedly some distance back, knowing well that they shouldn’t interrupt. When he finally turned his head and saw them, Noctis offered a suggestion.

“He looks pretty beat up… we should head to Lestallum for the night, they’ve got a doctor there, don’t they?”

“Already thinking that. You drive, and I’ll sit in the back with Iggy to make sure he makes it safely. I’m trusting you to not get us wrecked on the way there.” The scowl in his voice was apparent, and Noctis nodded, thankfully looking too afraid to make a quip in response. “Go get the car. I’ll meet you down there.”

Knowing well that time was of the essence, Noctis warped off into the distance leaving Prompto jogging behind to catch up. Once they were alone again, Gladio let out the breath he’d been holding and looked down at Ignis, thankful to see that he’d managed to open his eyes just a bit wider.

“C’mon, Iggy, I’ve got you. We’re heading to Lestallum.”

At every pained noise the tactician made when Gladio slowly adjusted him, his heart ached. Had he been just a second faster, Ignis wouldn’t have - no, now wasn’t the time for that. He focused all of his energy on picking Ignis up as carefully as he could, apologizing gently under his breath whenever Ignis winced.

“Thank… you,” Ignis managed, looking distraught but relieved in his own way as he looked up at the one who had saved him. “For a moment, I…”

Gladio smiled, wearily, and let his eyes meet Ignis’ for a brief second before returning his attention to tracing his steps back to the Regalia. “You’ll be okay, Iggy. I’ll make sure of it. If we hit any bumps on the way there I’ll kick Noct’s ass, swear it for you.”

A breathy chuckle left Ignis, and the earned smile felt much warmer. “I appreciate that.”

“You’re welcome. I’d do anything, y’know, if it meant I could keep you alive.”

And Gladio meant it, more than he understood.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been on a roll lately with writing things and I hope I can keep this up before our upcoming convention! I have a second draft in the works right now for an unrelated promptis AU story so stay tuned :D hope you enjoyed! For now because it's late, I might head to bed aaaaaa


End file.
